On the Nesting of Birds in Wiltshire. 555 



Wood-pigeon, whose nest we may find in every plantation. As 

 we walk beneath the branch on which it is laid, so flimsy does it 

 seem, so fragile and so slight, that we can positively see the two 

 white eggs through the interstices of the few sticks on which 

 they are laid ; and if we climb up and examine the nest more 

 closely, we marvel to see how flat it is, with no protection at the 

 sides for retaining upon it the eggs, and afterwards the young ; 

 only a slight platform or wicker ledge, from which one would 

 expect the eggs to roll at the slightest stirring of the breeze. 

 But no ; the narrow stage has been found sufficient by hundreds 

 of generations of Wood-pigeons, and precisely the same nest as 

 their ancestors built is prepared by the Wood-pigeons now. 



Next mark the variety of positions for their nests selected by 

 the several species. The Song Thrush chooses a thick bush ; 

 the Blackbird, the bank of a ditch ; the Misseltoe Thrush, the 

 exposed branch of an apple-tree ; the Wheatear seeks a deserted 

 rabbif-burrow, or some other hole in the ground; the White- 

 throat chooses a nettle-bed ; the Spotted Fly-catcher, the 

 support of a beam or rafter ; the Titmouse, a hole in a stump ; 

 the Skylark, the open cornfield ; the House-sparrow, the thatch 

 of a cottage or barn ; the Starling, any hole it can find in the 

 roofs of our houses ; the Rook, the top of an elm-tree ; the Wood- 

 pecker, a hole in the tree-stem; the Nuthatch, a hole in a 

 brick wall ; the Kingfisher, a hole in the river-bank ; the Sand- 

 martin, a hole in a dry sand-quarry ; the Swift, a hole in the 

 church-tower ; the Nightjar, a mere depression of the ground at 

 the foot of a tree ; the Partridge, the meadow where growing 

 crops afford concealment and protection ; the Lapwing, the open 

 cornfield or down ; the Waterhen, a floating bed of rushes ; the 

 Little Grebe, a wet mass of sedge at the margin of the stream. 

 These are but samples of the principal localities which the several 

 species choose, and the list might be very much prolonged ; but 

 enough is given to show how various are the situations adopted 

 by the breeding birds. 



Next let me draw attention to the variety of materials which 

 are sought for by the nest-builders, and these comprise almost 



